It appears the CIAC state championship tournament will be changed to a Saturday-Sunday schedule beginning next year.

“I fully understand and appreciate (the Mohegan Sun) business model,” CIAC associate executive director Paul Hoey said, “and their need to increase revenues. Being able to sell the arena on Friday nights, that makes sense to me.”

The trend in the entertainment industry is for large venues to rent out their facilities to promoters who prefer Friday night concert dates.

“As long as it doesn’t hurt our attendance, I would be more than happy to (switch),” Hoey said.

The concept has been discussed for the past three years, but the CIAC put it off for fear of alienating some member institutions who prefer not to play on Sundays. That has been put aside after the weather that besieged the Northeast made it necessary for games to be played on Sunday.

It also could alleviate the need for late and early games. The thought is for five games on Saturday and three on Sunday. That means the 9:30 a.m. Saturday game could probably be pushed back, which would be good news for teams such as Granby, who left school at 6 a.m. on Saturday to play in that first game.

It also means the championship games may better accommodate for overtime games, such as Saturday’s opener between Weaver and Granby. It pushed the Class LL game’s start time back to 8:45 p.m., a half-hour late.

Hoey said he plans to meet with Mohegan Sun management within the next month to finalize things for next year.

Good year

One thing, however, is pretty clear throughout all these changes: The CIAC wants to do nothing to jeopardize its association with the Mohegan Sun.

Hoey was beaming on Saturday night when he talked about the competitiveness of the games, including a double-overtime contest and Mercy’s buzzer-beating win over Lauralton Hall in the Class L girls final.

“I don’t know how much better it can get,” Hoey said.

The crowds were good for most games, including the 9:30 a.m. Saturday game — “That crowd was much more than we anticipated,” Hoey said — and the two Friday night contests.

“There’s no other place like this in the state,” Hoey said. “It’s the right size, it’s a great venue, the people who run the operations here are first-class and treat us like professionals. They look at these kids as no different than the Connecticut Sun being in here. They run the same kind of operation. It’s very important for us to continue our relationship with (the Mohegan Sun) over the long haul.”

Doing Griswold proud

One of the more exciting games came early Saturday when Granby rallied from a 20-point second-half deficit to capture an 83-81 double-overtime win over Weaver.

Page 2 of 2 - The man who led the Bears to the Class S championship is one who is familiar with Eastern Connecticut. Granby coach Wally Hansen graduated from Griswold High School in 1995.

“I told my family I was coming back home,” Hansen said. “I was bringing my boys back home and, hopefully, have a little fun. It has been a ride. It’s exciting.”

Several of Hansen’s former teammates, including the Drobiaks — Jayson, Dave and Nick — were on hand to lend their former teammate moral support.

“They were great players,” Hansen said. “Jay was a great basketball and baseball player, Dave and Nick were All-State basketball players. I was just the guy who got them the ball.”

On Saturday, Hansen was running the sideline, trying to will his team back into the game against the No. 25 Beavers (12-13). At times, his team was down to just two starters on the floor because of foul trouble. Senior captain Michael Noyes was one of those on the bench, but he hit some key 3-pointers to bring Granby back but was on the bench in overtime after he picked up his fifth foul with nine seconds left in regulation.

“The great thing about Mike was that he stayed in the game,” Hansen said. “He was consistently engaged.”

Noyes said it was painful watching from the sidelines while his teammates captured the title on the floor.

“I was sitting there, but I had to root my teammates on and they did a great job,” he said.